When reading such accounts, I always marvel when I come across things that are hard to reconcile with facts as we know them now–such as what is a madness that causes one to rip off their clothes and run and live in the forest… where they sprout tusks and grow bristles all over their bodies? Strange days indeed.

This is a great story. I was thinking about how George III descended into madness as well. A mad king is a dangerous thing (as George Martin has thoroughly demonstrated!). Love the way you take us through this, too.

You’ve constructed your story really well, using some memorable images. You choose exactly the right bits of the legend to use to make a 150 word tale. I love the phrase ‘dawn vaulted over the windowsills’.
I guess if Tiridates was carrying guilt for Gregory’s fate, then some form of atonement for that might relieve his madness.
Super story!

Interesting story, with wonderful imagery. And I agree, sometimes the ‘history’ can seem so fantastical that I wonder how much people believed it at the time. On the other hand, it helps make sense of the common trope that magic once existed and has been lessened or ended, which is why we don’t see such things now.